Sunday afternoon we made a makeshift larger brooder for the younger chicks. It gives them more space and also allows them to get used to the older chicks and vice-versa. Hopefully to eliminate (or at least decrease) injuries when we let them loose in with the older chicks- in maybe another month? So far it’s working fabulously! The toddler wasn’t using her play yard anymore so made sense to use it and save us some time and energy. The top is basically hinged using zip ties to the wall so that I can lift it up as necessary- thanks Dan!
Yesterday, was a sad day. I had done AM chores and it was pouring rain. Had Max (dog) in chicken coop with me and chickens loose in there for him to get used to them and for us to get out of the rain. All seemed well. Spent about 20 mins out there after chores with Max and chickens. Well after I left, the door to chicken coop was closed and I thought it was good and tight but apparently it patched but didn’t lock. Max got in there while I was cooking and eating lunch. He decided to have unsupervised play time with the older chickens. Two were out of the coop in the rain and 4 were hiding behind the transition brooder. Got the two back in the coop, Max out of the coop, and then checked on the 4 hiding. One was doing poorly. Not sure if Max just got rough or it injured itself getting away. We gave it about 8 hours by itself and it was doing awful- I’d say knocking on deaths doorstep. So we ended its suffering and since we saw no signs of puncture wounds or anything, we decided to process it. The bird was only 50-75% full grown so not what we were hoping but didn’t want to waste it. Hello organic chicken and rice soup? Will always double check the lock when leaving the coop. Hard lesson but at least we only lost one.
[And then there were 5... the remaining Barred Rocks that we hatched]
Anyways, that’s the update here at the farm. How are you all doing? How is it the middle of June?! Done anything fun this summer or have plans for anything fun? I’d love to hear about your own adventure(s) 🙂.
Have a great afternoon,